A Full Year of Happiness

Considering Cora is nearly 13 months old, this post is a little late. I haven't yet put up her official 12 month photos! First, here's a blast from the past.


My goodness. She was sooo tiny. And so precious. Well, she is still very, very precious. Just not so tiny any more. :)




She also loves to help clean in anyway she can. Here is her most recent favorite chore. Reloading the dishwasher after Mommy has already loaded it. She is going to have some competition for dishwasher space once Reggie gets back.


What is The Belle up to at 12 months?? Hmmm, where do I start?

• Overnight it seemed she turned into a toddler. Where did our little baby go?
• I think she is trying to say "dog". It is hard to tell if it is actually meant to be dog or just the consonant "d" sound (like daw). She has a huge repertoire of consonant sounds.
• She loves saying "uh oh" every time she drops something. In fact, many things are thrown to the floor just so she can say "uh oh".
  
• She babbles constantly. We have a feeling she has so much to tell us. Yikes.
• She bangs her head on the floor during temper tantrums or just to get attention. It is weird. But, it is Cora. I'll embrace all she does. :)
• She is really starting to test her limits. She holds her silverware, food, and/or sippy cup off the side of her chair just to get a reaction from whoever is paying attention. Lee and I tell her, "Cora, do not throw your cup on the floor. Please put it back on your tray." She them promptly slams it back on her tray all while staring at you with her big, beady eyes. As soon as we say, "Thank you", she immediately starts taunting us again. If we get mad, she drops it. If we ignore her, she stops. So, most of the time she we ignore with only one or two food casualties on the floor. She does however immediate start throwing anything on the floor when she is finished at her chair. It is easy to tell when she is done. Lee and I, of course, think her learning curve is amazing and love to see how she gets what she wants. Or how she behave when she doesn't get something. Lee did point out twice now that we are probably those annoying parents who think their kid is cute all the time. Oh well. I am the type of person who very rarely ever gets annoyed by a child. I have always been that way, so no surprise here.
• She scoots up and down the stairs like a pro. She has had two mishaps. Both times were due to major distractions: 1. chasing a cat and 2. being hyper in front of a crowd (unfortunate timing, lol).
• She makes the funniest faces just to get a chuckle out of Lee and me. One she does is raise her eyebrows as high as she can. Her eyebrows are wildly animated. She also strains her bottom lip and jar while showing all of her bottom teeth. Hilarious!!
• Everyone keeps telling me, "Oh, just wait until she starts walking! Then she will really be into everything." I don't think these people really understand what I mean when I say she is mobile. She pushes her chair around and uses it to climb up on furniture that she could otherwise not get on. She also uses her chair to reach things on the counter, reach ornaments that would otherwise be out-of-reach, etc. You get the picture. Lee and I refer to her as our monkey. She is quite a problem solver.

• She is getting very good at walking while holding onto our hands. We could keep her happy for hours just walking around. She gets so excited that sometimes she tries to run. She just squeals in delight. In fact, she earned her first pair of new kicks over our holiday in Omaha so she could walk around outside.